This is the biggest game for us, as I believe we have to win 3 of our remaining 4 games, and scrap a draw, and hope both Btn and Reading get 2 draws. Reading v Wigan should be one of those...but you never know this extraordinary league! It will be down to the wire....and Btn have the easiest run-in. Reading still inconsistent and been dropping pts all over the place. There were 5 teams...Notts Forest & Cherries have dropped out of the frame, provided we do beat them at home! It's 1 in 3 chances! Hold on to your seats! My gut feeling? Miss out on GD...we should have grabbed a hatful against Donny. But lets go with the flow and really enjoy ourselves and keep positive!
We're all over egging the Watford game. I know they are our bogey and but they've been comparatively average this season and we are more than capable of beating them. I get this sense that 3 points at Watford will have the board celebrating like were over the line when there are Bournemouth Burnley and Wednesday still to come. None of them will roll over for us. Every next game is the biggest game of the season. 12 more points should do it.
We can't always drop points against Watford! The more times it's happened, the less likely it is to happen again. Law of averages. Watford are a weaker side than last year after the rule change to prevent the sort of cheating that almost got them promoted the season before. Plus I had to share a train with them and their hookie Stone Island and Burberry outfits last time they came here so they owe me one!
By cheating I assume you mean the way we operated within the rules and borrowed some players from our sister clubs. If you want to look at major rule bending I suggest you look at Crystal Palace; who, strangely, did get promoted, for their use of the loan system. Ian Holloway has always made use of this and if you count them Palace had 13 players on loan last season; one (Wilfred Saha) having been sold, borrowed back immediately and his wages were paid entirely by his new club. I think you will also find that not only did Watford operate completely within the rules (as they were at the time), they also paid 100% of all the wages of the players they borrowed.
Against Huddersfield we could have got a lot more but took our foot off the gas and shut up shop. I don't think we can be worrying about goal difference. If we win every game and it's still not enough we'll have XI heroes to celebrate anyway.
Its a vital banker Warky! And there was I threading on our Run-in chances..and off we jolly well go on cheats...I dunno!
The great thing about this is that Mick has been here before and he will know what is needed and he will be talking to the players about how to deal with the expectations and the pressure! In my opinion we have absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain! With the group that Mick has assembled we have completely surpassed everyones expectations and we are the underdogs in many people's minds including the media where we never get mentioned as contenders if mentioned at all! Mick will use this and channel it by creating the siege mentality amongst the players. Just look at all the other teams competing around us and they have all spent far more money than we have. A remarkable achievement so far and it would of course be the icing on the cake if we somehow made it to the playoffs and a bloody miracle if we won the thing! It would go down as probably the greatest achievement in the clubs history beside the 61/62 side!
Even with those two drawing and us winning it would still give Wigan at least a 2 point lead and a probable 5 point lead. Forget about Wigan, they're not catchable. There's one place. So a Wigan win is the result we need. Brighton will pummel Huddersfield, we could do with Wednesday getting something at Bournemouth - but if we win and Reading don't then that's a successful first round.
Wigan are still very catchable Hampy only the 3rd and 4th spots are nailed on the other 2 are very much up for grabs!
That is sacrilege to dear Sir Bob and an insult to Burley. It would be an achievement to equal John Lyall's Second Division championship. Let's get a bit of perspective dear boy.
Not by us, they can afford to lose two if we claim all 12 points and would still be ahead of us on GD. No chance.
No it isn't! Given the context of where we were when Mick walked through the door 18 months ago promotion this year would be the biggest achievement since 61/62! Bobby built 3 amazing teams through his reign and we enjoyed amazing success but you can also argue that we should have won the League at least twice during this period. It took Burley 5 years to get us promoted and he had money to spend! I am in no way decrying what Lyall, Bobby or Burley have done but you have to think about the now and the backdrop to what the team was when Mick arrived!
Good god man you really believe it. I want some of what you've been taking Burley's promotion yes, I agree Mick's had a tougher ask (if he achieves it) but taking the Premier League by storm was something different. As for Bobby there is no logical argument that can counter that ridiculous statement.
Hampy it's a fact! We should have won the League at least twice maybe even three times! 1975/76, 1980/81 & 1981/82 but unfortunately we didn't have a big enough squad of top quality replacements and thats what did for us! Bobby is a god and a legend and all the other superlatives that you can send his way, of course he is and in no way am I belittling his achievements and enormous contribution to our club. All I am saying is that for someone to come in half way through a season when we were pretty much goners (you said it yourself at the time) and then to not only rescue us but to take us to within striking distance of the playoffs the very next season without spending a penny in transfers just has to go down as a magnificent achievement! If we do go up this year it would be outstanding and on a par with the unfancied 61/62 side! That is my opinion!
1st - We need to stop worrying about how everyone around us is doing, If (& admittedly its a big if), we win our last 4 games, we would be incredibly unlucky not to make the play offs On an earlier point, it has been said that if Mick got us in to the play offs, it would be a greater achievement than Burley's promotion due to the fact he (Burley) had money to spend (I'm not going to get in to comparing getting in to the play offs & winning the FA & UEFA cups & finishing runners up in the top division). The only reason GB had money to spend in this division was he was forced to sell players to balance the books (Dyer, Taricco, Marshall & Mathie were all sold whilst we were at this level - might be a few others as well). He was then allowed to use some of this money to rebuild. The only signing I can remember that was over a million was Marcus Stewart (2.5??). Other signings were either free of a lot less. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that we received a lot more money than we paid out during that era.
